Joy Rides to Space: The Future of Space Travel
Why go to outer space? Some modern personalities like Neil de Grasse Tyson and Elon Musk might say it is the final frontier for humanity to conquer and finally become an intergalactic species. They say it is our destiny to seek the stars. Earth is the cradle of our species and will be our grave if we do not venture forth.
The idea of space and intergalactic travel has long fascinated us. In the past, Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts dominated the space news. Fueled by nationalism, massive government investment in the Cold War era produced astronomy lore: Sputnik became the first satellite launched into space, Yuri Gagarin orbited the planet, and the Apollo space missions put humankind on the moon.
We have touched a corner in the next frontier in space with private organizations now venturing into space. Private organizations like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have brought talent, efficiency and innovation into the galactic frontier and they now stand at the forefront of the new space race.
Things came to a head in the summer of 2021 when two of the world’s wealthiest men, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, engaged in a frenzied race to space. They were launching highly popularized commercial space flights of their firms, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, respectively, with themselves in the front seats.
Going to space and then back on a purpose-built craft is an extremely complex and technologically complicated process. And while the engineers at Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic can be proud of their prowess, what did these joy rides actually achieve?
The civilian crew aboard these ships did not go to the moon and vacation there or mine for moonrock. They simply went into sub-orbital levels, the fringe of the Earth’s gravitational pull and experienced weightlessness for a few seconds. But something like weightlessness can be achieved easily in one of the astronauts’ chambers NASA and other space agencies operate to acquaint astronauts with weightlessness. Similarly Richard Branson marveled at how brilliant it was to see the planet’s curvature from above. Instead of from inside cramped quarters on the spaceship he was aboard, Richard Branson could have downloaded a high resolution image of the Earth from outer space on his computer and marveled at it all he wanted.
Similarly, the idea that other planets, satellites or asteroids can be colonized could very easily make us lose vision and appreciation for our own planet. Mars (or any planet in reasonable distance) does not have a mix of magnetic poles, a hospitable atmosphere, flowing water and the wealth of species of flowers and fauna of our planet. You are reminded of Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece Interstellar. With earth getting exhausted and slowly dying, a small crew ventures forth to explore new potential homes for humanity. As they leave earth’s orbit, the protagonist Mathew McConaghuey looks back at earth longingly. “It's a perfect planet. We are not gonna find another one like her,” he says.
That is the central reality we must never forget as we live out our tryst with space.
